Countryside Angels
by genhale2000
Summary: A The Mortal Instruments short story, set in October 2016 (approximately 10 years after City of Heavenly Fire). Jace and Clary visit Jocelyn and Luke in their quiet countryside home.


Countryside Angels

The surroundings of Yorkshire were usually very quiet, apart from a few farmers and their small herds of cattle. Now, however, on an autumnal day in late October 2014, a couple of peculiar looking people, a blond, muscluar man and a frail-looking, red-haired woman, walked along a narrow river, more of a ditch really, at the level of an old, abandoned building with a moldy water wheel, visibly arguing. Nobody could have thought of a way the couple had ended up somewhere, for the nearest village was at least a day's walk away, and the woman was very visibly with a child. Of course, no one could have known that these people were the strangest of all, Shadowhunters they are called. Humans with angel blood in their veins, who could wear runes, fight with seraph blades and most relevant at this moment, could travel by Portal.

'Clary…' Jace frowned at her.

'Jace, please. I really am certain we're almost there!'

'Can you please just draw a Portal?'

'No! This way we can enjoy nature! You know I hate the fact that we're always training inside of the Institute, or killing demons outside in the city! The only green we see is Central Park, for god's sake, and we can hardly be there because most of the park is Seelie's territory!'

'Do you absolutely have to see nature? Is a journey to Idris twice a year not enough?'

This brought him an icy look from his fiancée.

'You're just like a little child. Are we almost there? Are you sure we're on the right path? Clary, I want to rest. Clary, do you have anything to drink with you? Clary? Clary? Clary?'

'I do not sound like that at all!'

'You know what I mean.'

'All right, then. We're going to be late at your mother and Luke's. Don't say I didn't warn you.'

'Well, alright!'

Clary had yelled that last sentence and had turned around ferociously. She looked inconceivably beautiful when she was angry. Her face was all flashing, igneous, green eyes and her red hair danced around her head by the wind and her sudden movement. He wanted to cup her face and press her body against his, but she turned her head away fiercely when she felt his hands on her cheeks.

'Jace-'

'What do you want, Clary? I don't care. Walking or Portal?'

'She sighed. He knew she had only walked on because of her stubbornness, but that her feet started to ache as well, even though she had drawn the runes for strength and endurance on her arm roughly halfway through their walk. In her condition, it wasn't a miracle she couldn't carry on as long as before and that her runes faded quicker.

'Clary, please be sensible, and think of the baby?' He asked quietly.

Clary looked in his glowing, golden eyes and sighed again. She knew she'd lost already. She was only nineteen weeks pregnant, more than halfway through, but her belly had already expanded a lot, and she felt huge. The risk had fairly decreased since a few weeks ago, and a Shadowhunter baby was a lot stronger than a Mundane baby, but she still couldn't overload herself. She'd have to stop applying runes eventually as well, and certainly did not look forward to that moment. Her runes had always been her strength. She could even draw a stronger rune than any other Shadowhunter could on his parabatai. Even though Jace and Alec liked to draw runes on eachother before battle anyway. It was their tradition, they said, and Clary didn't mind.

She took out her stele, walked to the nearest tree and drew on the square-formed Portal rune.

'I'm still fairly impressed by the fact that you invented a rune. Yourself.'

Clary looked over her shoulder smugly. 'Well, I'm fairly impressed that none of you idiot Shadowhunters have thought about drawing a square with your stele as well.'

'You idiot Shadowhunters? You're a Shadowhunter too!' said Jace, raising his eyebrows.

'I'm not an idiot Shadowhunter, though,' said Clary, hardly succeeding in keeping a pokerface, and without looking at him, she stepped through the portal.

'Why did I propose again?' Jace muttered in himself, with a huge grin on his face.


End file.
